A Year In The Life of Eric Rickman

We've barely scratched the surface of the Eric Rickman photo files. For this issue, the editor looked at several hundred images Rick shot during calendar year 1958 and selected more than 100 to give you some small idea what this tireless, inventive, always-eager Petersen Publishing Co. (PPC) employee was doing during those 365 days. We don't think he ever took an actual day off; a vacation for Rick was going on assignment to Florida, or Mexico, or New England to cover a racing event or car show.
In this 10th anniversary year, HOT ROD was hitting its stride. "Pete" Petersen's bootstrap enterprise with the daring title (and subject) had become a stable and lucrative business both fueled by and representing America's huge, teenage baby boom generation. Hollywood was still producing movies with titles like Hot Rod Gang and Road Rebels. Aftermarket manufacturers realized that these teens had some bucks. They bought products, and they influenced their parents when it came to certain big-ticket purchases--such as a new family car.

Flipping through the covers and pages of 1958-1959 issues, we see what we would call the full spectrum of hot rodding: roadsters and coupes, mild-to-wild custom cars, dragsters, modified engines (from Hemis to Offies), the annual Indy-car preview and, yes, a few of Detroit's latest offerings in stock form. Whereas other years profiled thus far have veered into heavy coverage of multiple offshoots such as drag boats, go-karts, and fiberglass kit cars (with many others to come in later years), the only such marginal rodding topic to earn a cover (Feb. '58) was Rickman's amazing, eye-grabbing, full-bleed color photo of 26 multicolored quarter-Midget race cars, taken from a very high angle atop a hydraulic boom crane, with each young, helmeted driver looking straight up at "E. Rick Mann." It was just one of his many hallmark covers.

If this and other, more traditional subjects from HRM's 1958 covers seem conspicuously absent here, we submit three reasons: (1) Whereas black-and-white film rolls were well organized in PPC's film archive, individual color negs and transparencies were not, resulting in considerable losses through carelessness or theft; (2) some cover subjects were shot by staff photographers added to PPC's roster after Rickman's arrival (1950); (3) due to magazines' three-month lead time, most of the material published in early 1958 issues was actually shot the previous year (watch for Rick's 1957 photos in a future issue).
The following pages illustrate plenty of amusing, unusual, and historically significant photography from calendar year 1958, most of which has never before been seen by anyone except Eric and whoever processed his film. We'll tell you what we know about it, guess at what we don't, and encourage you old-timers to continue filling in the blanks for those of us too young to know what we're missing.

We picked this one for the lead shot because it offers rare, previously unpublished insight into how Eric Rickman worked. As he did so often, Rick handed off one of his cameras and said, "Take my picture!" It's just as typical that he's shirtless, up on a ladder, and wearing a jaunty cap. The photo taking shape in his big, "view" camera ended up as the full-cover image for the Feb. '59 issue: the gold-painted, highly chromed, Hilborn-injected Cadillac engine in Webb Callahan's '34 Ford drag-coupe chassis. Alas, no additional engine shots appeared inside, and the completed car, promised to be "featured soon in HR," never was. (See that HRM cover in More of the Same, page 74.)

JANUARY 6: Three stock pickup trucks on the cover of HRM? Yes, but the green Dodge, red Chevy, and yellow Ford half-tons spread across the bottom of the Mar. '58 cover aren't the same three seen here being tested in deepest Death Valley by Ray Brock, Wally Parks, and an unnamed assistant for the lead-off story inside. They loaded the 315 Polysphere Dodge, 283 Chevy, and 272 Y-block Ford with 1,000 pounds of cement, hauled up a 32-percent-grade L.A. street, and banzai'd through desert dirt roads. A winner? Of course not--all were rated as good. (We found the following story--also bylined Rickman--on how Gene Adams built a blown and injected '57 Olds engine for his potent '50 Fastback gasser more fascinating!)

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JANUARY 17: Let's start off with a mystery that stumped even our resident know-it-all, Greg Sharp. Rickman wrote "Horrible Hisso" in the PPC proof book. This SOHC four is a vintage Hispano-Suiza WWI aircraft engine, and the intricate tube frame looks like it might have a suspended quick-change rear. Other images on this roll reveal an aluminum body with a rounded nose. (A few racers tried such exotic mills in the new NHRA "X/ Dragster" class, devoted to early four-bangers, but they generally got beaten by venerable Model B or C Fords.) As for who was building this thing in the winter of 1957-1958, where and why, we dunno. Help, readers?

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JANUARY 20: For once, that's not Rick posing for his own how-to photo, but it is his Olds-powered '53 Corvette daily driver getting fitted with a set of Scott injectors, so we assume that's Mel Scott doing the swap. While some are more familiar with the "Slot By Scott" injector and low-profile scoop atop dragster superchargers of the mid-'60s, this first "Scott Top" injector was a simple, cast top that screwed onto a 97 two-
barrel-carb base, which is what's happening in this photo. We don't know why this application wasn't pictured therein, but we know that Rick ran the setup on the street for quite a while.[Enter text here]

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JANUARY 20: Here's a truly historic photo that has never been seen. That's Art Chrisman mocking up his famous Hustler I fueler on a pair of large-tube framerails supported by DuPont lacquer thinner cans. Rickman just happened to fall by--after photographing the Scott injectors being installed on his car and a Buick nailhead going into a Ford pickup, on the same day--and grab this shot at the Chrisman Garage in south central L.A. (Now owned by Bill Lindig, Hustler I is on permanent display at the NHRA Museum in Pomona, California.)

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JANUARY 20: Where did Hustler I's Chrysler Hemi and center steering come from? Right out of ol' No. 25, which Rick captured propped up on early Ford transmission cases over in another corner of Chrisman's shop. What a moment this turned out to be, preserved on film in a Rickman "grab shot." Good thing that Art buried the venerable "25 car" in that corner for a couple of decades, so he could finally rebuild it. (One of the earliest dragsters, this former lakes and oval-track racer was also recently turned over to the NHRA Museum by the Lindig family.)

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JANUARY 23: Fred Hone would later develop an overdrive unit of his own for the gas-crunch 1970s, but the July '58 issue showed how he made adapters, shafts and mounts to bolt an early Ford O.D. unit behind OEM automatics.

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JANUARY 29: Rick logged two rolls of film into PPC's photo lab as "Int. Nat Kilo Record Try"--as opposed to "Record Runs"--after inclement weather prevented FIA record attempts at March AFB in Riverside, California. However, the outing did produce one gem of an unpublished portrait: The guy that Rick photographed with cravat, overcoat, and unlit cigarette, looking at the Olds engine in his Corvette, is none other than Chevrolet's Zora Arkus-Duntov. We'll further assume that what's got his interest are the two Scott injectors mounted outboard of the lone 97 carb, although they appear to be taped shut (to keep the rain out?).

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JANUARY 29: Here's an unpublished alternate to a secondary lead shot that ran in the Mar. '59 HRM with one of the cleanest, most impressive engine swap stories ever. That's a chromed-up, six-carb 392 Chrysler Hemi being dropped into an equally clean '56 Mercury by Ed Pink (behind motor) and crew. I love Rick's opening line: "As the Yankees are to baseball, so the Chrysler V8 is to the hot rodder—the ultimate." Yes!

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JANUARY 31: As we shall see in a moment, Rick photographed in detail a DeSoto Hemi built by Tony Capanna to run in a Kurtis 500-A chassis as the Dean Van Lines Special for a story in May '58. However, Greg Sharp says this is the Chrysler-powered Kurtis used as a Firestone tire test car, with mechanic Ray Nichels shown. With Sam Hanks driving, it set a closed-course speed record of 182.554 mph on the Chrysler proving grounds in Michigan.

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FEBRUARY 1: It's a shame not to see sex-bomb Mamie Van Doren posed with Bill Morse's brand-new Titian Red Impala, as seen on the June cover, but those photos were taken by an MGM publicity photographer. However, Rick's high-angle rear shot shows just how sexy the all-new Chevy was with just a little dechroming and scallops plus some serious lowering, as demonstrated by Morse, who rebuilt the brand-new car in eight weeks at his El Monte, California, muffler shop.
(see photos below)

FEBRUARY 2: What a photo! We've got a 6-volt battery, a timing module with a peeling USAC decal, the timing light, Wally in an NHRA jacket, FIA official Reeves Dutton in hat and blazer, the gorgeous Glass Slipper taking off on a return run down the March AFB runway, and snow-capped Mount San Jacinto in the background. The weather was obviously clear this day, and both Cortopassi & Butler and Calvin Rice in the blown-Hemi HOT ROD Magazine Special slingshots got their international standing-kilo records (long held by German Auto Unions) for a big story in April.

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FEBRUARY 3: We've demonstrated Rick's sense of humor a few times already. After the FIA record runs, he was back at Capanna's Wilcap shop in south L.A. to continue coverage of the DeSoto Hemi being built for Jerry Unser's Kurtis Indy car. Obviously noting the irony of the cardboard sign reading "Overhead Block," he grabbed this funny photo, using a strong flash to counteract the bright sun coming through the window.

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FEBRUARY 4: By this time, Vic Edelbrock had moved to a large, new shop on West Jefferson in L.A., with a large, state-of-the-art dyno cell. Ed Iskenderian happened to be located across the street. In conjunction, they decided to run one of the first extensive dyno tests, trying 30 different variations of manifolds, camshafts, headwork, ignitions, and so on, on Ford's brand-new FE big-block, introduced as a 352. Extensive HRM coverage ran in two parts (Aug. and Sept.), revealing an ultimate power gain from 243 to 342 hp. This photo shows Vic on the right, employee Marcel Gallant on the left, and Isky behind the engine.

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FEBRUARY 6: Rick captured Ray Brock's rigorous road test of the new '58 Ford on two 12-shot rolls turned in this day for the April issue. Brock loved getting these new cars airborne! A published after shot showed a hard landing, with the front bumper almost on the ground, looking extremely lowered. There were no motor drives in 1958; Rick caught the action sequence with a hand-crank, twin-lens camera.

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FEBRUARY 25: Hartford's annual Autorama was one of the biggest East Coast car shows, but promoter Joe Kizis must've bought plane tickets to get both Rick and Tex Smith out to cover the '58 show. Afterward, Rick turned in 14 rolls of film but received no photo credit for a two-page story in May. Worse, while Eric was freezing back east, Dick Day got sent to Rick's hometown, Oakland, to cover the roadster show for the same issue--depriving Eric of his usual NorCal "vacation" at the beginning of each year.

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FEBRUARY 25: When in Rome . . . make lemonade, right? Somewhere in Hartford, Rick handed someone (maybe Tex) his camera, picked up a big snowball, and said something like, "Take my picture with that funny-looking building in the background."

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FEBRUARY 25: Allegheny Ludlum, a company that supplied stainless steel to Ford for trim, grilles, and other parts in the '30s, also made a few different models of '36 Fords completely in stainless steel. This sedan was on display at the Hartford show 22 years later, reportedly having covered 300,000 miles--and outlived three engines. Some of the stainless models survive to this day.

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MARCH 7: Back to Tony Capanna's Indy-car DeSoto, we can see Wilcap four-bolt main caps along with tubes next to the pan rails for improved coolant circulation. This engine also had a billet crankshaft and H-beam connecting rods, band-sawed out of steel billet, then hand-machined by Tony--pretty amazing stuff for 1958, as revealed in May's HRM.

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MARCH 13: Along with Joe Zupan's custom F-100 pickup, the May cover displayed two '58 Packard Hawks, with the blurb: "Get all the facts in RAY BROCK'S EXCLUSIVE Performance tests on AMERICA'S SUPER CARS." As Rick was taking the photos (including an engine shot with the McCulloch supercharger), little did he suspect that this would be the last Packard ever made.

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MARCH 14: Just the thing you'd expect to find in a suburban Pacoima, California, driveway, right? That's Dick Harryman at home with his, Nye Frank's, and driver Mickey Brown's Olds-powered rail, frequently seen in race coverage and "hero" ads and also a Car Craft feature (July '58). With an Itow chassis and a multi-V-belt Beatty blower drive, it was touted as the first gas car to break the 150-mph barrier. Later, the popular pilot lost his life testing another team's dragster at Lions.

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MARCH 18: Remember, Rick started covering this '56 Merc's Hemi transplant back in early January. Now Ed Pink has the engine very cleanly installed, still sporting six twos. However, you can see that the car is in primer and partly masked for new paint. Beside the impressive swap and excellent workmanship--as if those weren't enough--Rick picked this skewed angle to make his shot even more dramatic.

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MARCH 24: In the '50s, Indy was still a hot rodders' race, with drivers that started racing roadsters on dirt tracks. Rick and the editors knew that any rodder loved seeing the detailed workmanship on these Indy "roadsters." So, the June '58 issue not only had an Offy engine on the cover but also led off the annual Indy Preview article (wherein Brock and Rick visited the shops to see cars in progress) with an outlined version of this new Kurtis Kraft with its Offy "laid down" to 15 degrees from horizontal--lowering the CG and putting the driveline weight on the left (inboard) side. Greg Sharp notes that this car became the D-A Lubricant Special, driven in 1958 by Johnny Thomson.
(see photos below)

MARCH 28: We have absolutely no idea who, where or what this is. It was one grab shot on a roll marked "Edelbrock Ford Engine Test." Rick might have even taken it from his car as it went by. It's no hot rod, and it's not even a dune buggy. But we've actually seen several such contraptions over the years (most recently at rat-rod gatherings). If you have an old chassis, a cutting torch and a stick welder, there seems to be some compulsion to build one of these to run around the shop yard, the farm, or maybe put in a parade.

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MARCH 31: The June '58 story was about bolt-in rollbars, showing Sidney Malcolm and friend (pictured) quickly installing one in this Olds-powered '28 A pickup, as well as Dick Scritchfield doing likewise in his well-known '32 roadster. Not shown was this great sequence of stripping the top and windshield from the street-driven truck, bolting on a set of slicks, then blasting off the line at what appears to be the Old San Gabe strip. This story might also be the only time Wally allowed two photos of cars mangled in dragstrip wrecks to be published--one illustrating a rollbar that held up, another showing one that didn't (ouch!).
(see photos below)

APRIL 10: You can't tell from the rear shot--and Rick didn't notice–that Bill Commane's flawless, black Ford coupe is a '39 with '40 DeLuxe fenders, hood, and trim. A three-page "roto" (i.e., green-tinted) feature in Aug '58 correctly called it a sleeper and included chassis shots Rick got on a rack (though it didn't show the Halibrand quick-change). The big, three-carb, 332-inch GMC six was built by "the late" Manny Ayulo, while bodywork was handled by Eddie Kuzma--two Indy greats. It wasn't a typical hot rod, but it was a very impressive piece.
(see photos below)

APRIL 14: Boat drags were called "A New Thrill" on the Aug. '58 cover. Led by an eight-carb, chromed-up Chrysler Hemi as the main cover image, the six-page story focused on multicarbed, injected, or blown V8s in V-drive hulls, such as this six-carb Packard with a chromed, U-jointed driveshaft. (Incidentally, Rick didn't actually cover this and the next two subjects all on the same day; rather, the date shown here is when he got back to PPC to turn in all of this film.)

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APRIL 14: We don't recognize the other two in the new Olds as Rick caught promoter J.C. Agajanian in midleap, flagging Wally Parks and Ray Brock off from downtown L.A. on a five-day Mobil Economy Run to Galveston, Texas. This shot appeared in Brock's new-car road test (July HRM), subtitled: "Despite its size and weight, the chrome-plated '58 is swift and agile with a respectable mileage potential." Oh, yeah, sure, it should have come with a propeller and rudder!

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APRIL 14: One way to get drag trophies and records in the '50s was to enter a two-seater into the much-less-populated Sport and Modified Sport classes. However, if you were unlucky, you'd have to face Sam Parriott's gorgeous and fast, candy-red, Cad-powered Kurtis that ruled the roost for several years. It got a Rickman color shot on the Sept. '58 cover, plus two pages inside. If you look closely at the Bill Edwards–built engine, you might notice the Cad-Olds S.Co.T. blower is bigger than the common Ford flathead unit, and what look like dual four-barrels are actually four pruned 97s on a common, custom-built base--ingenuity in action!
(see photos below)

APRIL 22: It's hard to believe today, when early-style rods are revered (and this one has been lovingly restored—and shown at Pebble Beach—by Gary Schroeder), that when Jack Thompson's black-and-red '27 T made the Aug. cover, critical teens considered everything about it old-fashioned and out of date: the track nose, bellypans, flathead engine, Kelsey wire wheels, even the Art Summers pinstriping. Rickman called it "Roadster Classic." He was right!

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APRIL 25: We started off last issue's Year of Rickman installment (1956) with young Jack McNeil stitching custom upholstery in this L.A. shop. Two years later, in the same building is 16-year-old (!) Joe Andersen's striping/custom-paint shop. Rick titled the film "Scallops." We love Joe's treatment of the fastback '49 Chevy with a rounded hood and partial Olds grille. Andersen would develop into one of the premier custom painters of the '60s, often credited with "inventing" lace painting.

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MAY 1: Mickey Thompson was a pressman working for the L.A. Times, building amazing cars in his El Monte, California, home garage with invaluable help from his first wife, Judy (shown). Originally built by Manuel Coehlo as a center seater and reconfigured into a slingshot by M/T, the twin-Chrysler, four-wheel drive slingshot was prominently featured as one of several being built "For the Big One" (NHRA Nationals) in the July issue. A proposed streamlined body was also shown, and a prophetic caption said Mickey "may run his latest creation at the Big Go." Sure enough, en route to Oklahoma City, he stopped at Bonneville to give the car a trial run and went 294. Thus encouraged to chase the unlimited land-speed record, Mickey turned around, went home, and started building his four-engined Challenger in this same garage.

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MAY 2: We can't figure the bamboo/Tudor setting, but that's Todd "Doc" Rawleigh posing with his new Itow dragster for the same "Pre-Nats" story. Itow, shown in an adjacent photo in that July issue with the Harryman, Frank & Brown rail, was called "Southern California's foremost chassis builder." Rawleigh's car (which we'll soon see with a two-stage-blown Olds) used oval PBY wing struts for main rails.

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MAY 5: Where to start? We could literally write a book on the late, great Robert "Jocko" Johnson. He was the number one cylinder head porter of the time. That's a dirty job, like coal mining (look at him). Jocko was a genius who applied his knowledge of airflow and his craftsmanship to the construction of this streamlined, full-bodied dragster--the first one that really worked, and the last true 'liner to set a world e.t. record. Painted white with red scallops, with an eight-carb, 6-71-blown, 450-inch Herbert-cammed Chrysler and Jazzy Nelson driving, it turned a then-amazing 8.35 at Riverside and was featured on the Nov. '59 Car Craft cover.

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MAY 5: Longtime PPC readers have seen this shot before because it's one of the few showing the young company's "5959" headquarters on Hollywood Boulevard. The building had formerly been lettered "Trend, Inc.," but now it's boldly Petersen Publishing, with seven magazines proudly listed (Teen being the only nonautomotive title). The two guys in the channeled '32 roadster, like so many during that time, likely drove up and asked the receptionist, "Can we get our car in your magazine?" So, somebody sent Rick and a camera to the rear parking lot to shoot a magazine-worthy Deuce from Northern California. Other frames on the roll show them pulling sleeping bags and camping gear out of the trunk. We remember seeing the feature but couldn't locate the issue before press time. (Help, somebuddy?)

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MAY 6: An avid motorcyclist into his seventies, Eric wangled a trip 26 miles across the sea to cover the Catalina Grand Prix, possibly on behalf of a PPC bike mag. The big steamer in the harbor and the spectators helped frame a dramatic photo. Greg Sharp recalls that the G.P. ran from 1951 through 1958 and was revived on the island last December.

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MAY 6: Back to the "Pre-Nats Builders" film, Milt Moore is using a yardstick to determine whether the Fritz Voigt–built Chrysler and 4-71 blower will fit in his '34. Notice the "Crazy Painters" signage on his roadster? Moore's Mufflers was right next door to the Baron-Roth-Kelly shop, where Big Daddy did the cool lettering

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MAY 8: The puffy-cheeked person blowing out the candles on his birthday cake in this very-candid photo is our cofounder, Robert E. Petersen. The guy in the plaid shirt drinking a Burgie is Barney Navarro. Where this is, where the Geisha girls came from--or whether they're even Japanese--is open to conjecture because this roll of film is otherwise undocumented. We do know that Pete liked to party, and Rick was usually present with a camera.

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MAY 13: This is a truly curious and mysterious photo. It ran in the "Pre Big One" July '58 story with the terse caption, "Bob Hartley of Palm Springs intends to run this modified and blown Corvette." We assume (perhaps incorrectly) that Rick drove out to the hot desert town to get this cool photo. We don't believe the car went to NHRA's OK City event, and no one here remembers seeing either the car or builder anywhere since. How about you?

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MAY 13: This is a truly curious and mysterious photo. It ran in the "Pre Big One" July '58 story with the terse caption, "Bob Hartley of Palm Springs intends to run this modified and blown Corvette." We assume (perhaps incorrectly) that Rick drove out to the hot desert town to get this cool photo. We don't believe the car went to NHRA's OK City event, and no one here remembers seeing either the car or builder anywhere since. How about you?

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MAY ??: We're missing both a date and I.D. for this shot, since about 25 rolls of film seem unrecorded between May 13 and 14. This is obviously a staged photo (note that the '41 Chevy hood is already fully louvered), evidently shot by Rick on behalf of some company that advertised louver presses in the back of HRM around this time.

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MAY 14: After sharing PPC's Hollywood Boulevard digs for seven years, the NHRA finally moved into its own building (1171 N. Vermont Ave.) in late 1957. We're not sure why Rick took this photo of the staff (that's Wally on the right, natch), but that's his own just-Dutched Vette in front, along with an incongruous staff vehicle: a VW Micro van (sheesh!) complete with Moon wheel covers.

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MAY 19: Rick and Von Dutch were buddies. He'd stop by Dutch's "shop" at Competition Motors on his regular rounds, and one day Dutch said, "Hey, your car needs a paintjob" (which it always did). So, Dutch painted it dark metallic blue with lighter blue scallops--quite reserved for him. This was the best Rick's Vette ever looked, so we're glad he took this appreciative, high-angle shot from the control tower at the Inyokern airport while at the drags. Note that in the earlier photo, it had only one air cleaner because the Scott injectors were still in. Here, it has the carbs (or at least three air cleaners) back in place. Eric's son, Mike, reminds us that it ran a "full-house" Olds, built by Ed Iskenderian himself, backed by a very early B&M Hydro--and that it ultimately burned to the ground in the hands of its subsequent owner, a woman who blamed the fire on faulty wiring.

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MAY 26: These kids' plated, polished, high-tech Lincoln V8 appears to be the Bill Stroppe engine that powered two Mercury project cars: the JT450X in '56 (see Mar. '11 HRD) and Mermaid of '57. How these members of Satan's Chauffeurs (Lynwood, California) got ahold of such an exotic hunk of factory hardware is a mystery that we're hoping one of you readers will solve.

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MAY 26: Harkening back to the "Experiment in Timing" article we recalled in a previous HRD installment, Chrondeck's Ollie Riley again set up "progressive" clocks every 132 feet at Lions " . . . and resulting elapsed times were transferred to graphs; these presented to the swift quarter-mile enthusiasts so they could chart their runs and tune the car accordingly." This photo and cap ran in HRM's aforementioned "Quick in the Quarter" article.

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MAY 26: Rick shot nine rolls of film at Lions, including this frame of the beautiful, black, chopped-top Grist Bros. '41 Willys hazing the whitewall slicks. It's not often that correspondents Ganahl, Sharp, and Wallace concur on anything, but all agreed that this is arguably the best looking Willys gasser ever--in bare essence. At one time, it was reportedly the world's quickest unblown gasser. Surprisingly, it was never featured in a Petersen publication. However, that unfortunate oversight may soon be corrected by HRD, now that we've tracked down Ralph Grist (with the help of the car's biggest fan, Gilbert Garnica). A 501-inch Lincoln mountain motor was among various powerplants installed in the late '50s and early '60s. Please stay tuned for the rest of the story!

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MAY 28: Rick labeled three rolls "How to Narrow a Rear End" this day. It was a timely topic, but we couldn't find a corresponding story in print. The cluttered, corrugated tin building looks like Cook Machine, maker of Cyclone cylinder heads and quick-changes (where axlehousings are still being shortened in the same, cluttered L.A. building). We consider this unpublished Rickman classic, with its gritty subject and dramatic lighting, worthy of Life magazine, circa 1958--but it'll have to settle for HRD, 53 years after the fact.

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MAY 28: On the last "Narrow a Rear End" roll, of all places, we discovered these back-to-back frames. It's only been two weeks since Rick proudly photographed his shiny, new, Von Dutch paintjob. What happened? Our guess is that Rick came flying around that off-camber, lefthand turn at night, not knowing there was a palm tree--with a huge, jutting curb around it--just down the steep hill. Knowing Rick, we can hear him saying, "What the hell was that %@*$ palm tree doing in the middle of the street?!" He probably took these pictures to show his insurance man how stupid it was for the tree to jump out in front of his freshly-Dutched Corvette.
(see photos below)

JUNE 2: There's a ton to say (and see) about this photo. The CRA (originally California Roadster Association) was holding its "500" for sprinters and Midgets on Riverside Raceway's road course. If the car crossing the finish line looks familiar, that's because it costarred with Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck in To Please a Lady in 1950 and was beyond obsolete by 1958. Nevertheless, Joe Gemsa (in straw hat) bought it from the studio, rebuilt it, and, with driver Bud Rose--who'd stunt-doubled for Gable in the film--entered the big race and won! Check the push boards on the pickups in the background.

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JUNE 9: Rick's notes could sometimes be as specific as they were other times cryptic. This roll is labeled "Tommy Ivo Dragster in back yard." That's exactly what it is. Kent Fuller recalls that he'd just finished stretching the wheelbase of the wheelie-prone rail that replaced the actor's T roadster, while Ivo was off doing National Guard duty. It appears that their unknown San Fernando Valley pal, a teenager named Prudhomme, hasn't yet repainted a body that appears to be a little lumpy, in primer, and plastered with stickers--including one shouting, "SPEED KILLS!" The site was Fuller's SFV backyard.

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JUNE 17: Arrowhead is a lakeside mountain resort above San Bernardino that was a popular destination for hot rodders and other Angelenos. Rickman drove up there this day to cover a hillclimb for "autos and motorcycles"--two of his favorite subjects. This photo shows a "sports special" of some sort barreling across a curved, narrow, wooden bridge with another brave photographer (whom we can't I.D.) in a HOT ROD T-shirt shooting from a much more precarious position. If either photog's pictures appeared in print, we couldn't find them (Motor Trend, maybe?).

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JUNE 26: A week later, Rick was in Sebring, Florida, exposing 14 rolls during NHRA's "Southeastern 7 States Regionals." The subtitle says rain didn't dampen the spirits of competitors, but it might've resulted in a single page of coverage in September. Eric's lead photo showed a cleaned-up Ed ("the good-looking brother") Garlits receiving the Top Eliminator trophy and a free trip to the Nationals from a buxom, bathing suit beauty, but we were more impressed by this unpublished shot of Ed towering above his diminutive Buick digger.

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JUNE 26: As usual, Rick found one or two cars in the pits to photograph for possible features to optimize PPC's travel investment. This guy with the under-dash TV and hat to match his tuck 'n' roll looks like a doofus to us, but Jack Williams' gaudy "Showboat" '48 Ford coupe from Miami earned two pages in the "roto" section (November). We're not sure how the highly chromed and accessorized show car got to Sebring, because it wasn't wearing license plates in the feature's photos.

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JUNE 26: Gray Baskerville once advised at a wet event, "Hey, when it rains, take rain shots!" That's exactly what Rick was doing when the '39 coupe got the jump on J. Bruntley's Chevy-powered '37 Willys coupe, whose slicks weren't liking the slick surface. We're amazed that the NHRA let cars run in these conditions--and we HRM alumni all, whether directly or indirectly, learned a lot of photography lessons from E. Rick Mann, the master.

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JUNE 26: The date refers to when the film was submitted for processing, but we again find a gap of 30 rolls in the logbook, so there's no I.D. for this unusual picture. Greg Sharp (who is aptly named) recognized the same woman, wearing capris but waving the same flag, superimposed over racing Super Modifieds on the inside-back cover of the Oct. 58 Car Craft, which identified her as "Miss Van Nuys, lovely Cheryl McDonald." Rick was adept at shooting animate as well as inanimate objects--preferably of this persuasion.

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JULY 2: Young Tex Smith and Bob Greene are decidedly of the other persuasion. We don't know what that striped Stroker cap has to do with helmets, but here's an outtake from "Know Your Helmets" (September) that puts the nose of the photographer's Dutch-painted daily driver to work as a makeshift tabletop.

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JULY 2: Art Ingles, a metalshaper in the Kurtis shops, invented the go-kart, and that might be him in the apron. Because go-karts, by various names, were a hot, new topic (and ad-revenue resource), "How to Build a Go-Kart" was on Rick's story list for the October issue.

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JULY 11: Speaking of chasing potential ad dollars, this must've been downright demoralizing for those assigned to comparing a new Volvo and Rambler American (ugh!). We're not kidding. That's bald-headed Ray Brock doing something--anything--for a lead shot for HRM's September Road Test. How about zero-to-60 times of 15.8 and 16.6 seconds (groan)?

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JULY 16: The bottom half of the December cover carried a color version of this photo that many of us remember enthusiastically. John Pierce's well-raked, Matador Red '57 Chevy had one of Dean Jeffries' better scallop jobs in silver/blue, with flames on his Triumph to match. Lowered 6 inches with Service Center dropped spindles, it's a typical SoCal street custom of the time.

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JULY 17: Too much to say here. It's the famous orange Iacono six-cylinder dragster that shared the Jan. '59 cover. Who took the obvious setup of Rick in San Pedro, California, wearing a tie (!), with his 4x5 camera and big flash? Greg Sharp says it was his own next-door neighbor, Bob Brownell, the kid seen assisting Ike Iacono here. Bob took pictures for his school paper and started doing tune-ups at Ike's gas station at the tender age of 15. Greg adds that this is the neighborhood hot rod that turned him on to hot rodding, big time. [Editor's note: It must've made quite an impression on your author, as well, because Too Tall Ganahl is the restorer and current owner of this dragster. --DW]
(see photos below)

JULY 21: Editor Wallace selected this outtake from Skip Torgerson's Dec. '58 cover story because Skip is examining the freshly printed August issue's feature on Jack Thompson (including the photo reappearing in this issue of HRD). Tony Nancy was credited for the top, so we assume that the white interior and red carpet also came from the Sherman Oaks shop known to rodders as "The Home of Bitchin' Stitchin'" (and to Tony's racer pals as "The Home of Bitch 'n' Stitch"!).

JULY 21: It took us a while to figure this one out. That's PPC editorial director Wally Parks in the rare big smile, comparing his dual-engine go-kart with Merle Brennan's 835-pound flathead rail (not much more than a kart itself!) at the Santa Ana Drags. Why? While the Go-Kart company was a major PPC advertiser, Santa Ana wasn't NHRA-sanctioned and, thus, would normally be excluded from exposure in any Petersen publication. We found the answer in a December two-pager titled "Draggin' Around," highlighting six strips around the country. Three Rickman photos show this dragster leaving the line and a bunch of go-karts blasting around cones with a caption touting, "All-gas classes, lots of runs, plenty of action, even go-karts at noon intermission" (ah-ha!). Meanwhile, Brennan's Reno-based digger got its own feature in the Oct. '58 Rod & Custom.
(see photos below)

JULY 24: Greg Sharp pinpointed this one: It's Jim Fowler's handbuilt "sports rod" with an injected '58 Olds engine and a 'glass body by Sports Car Engineering, as seen in the Jan. '59 story titled "Screaming Banshee." Photos show it finished in silver paint. The text says it set records at three different tracks within 24 hours, first day out! It's obviously a well-engineered, well-crafted car, but what we love are the photos showing how it was built in Fowler's Van Nuys home garage and driveway--especially the shot with Rick's car parked alongside. The Corvette truly was this hot rodder's year-round transportation, and you'll note the absence of a top in every photo.

JULY 25: Dig the cool angle of the 328-inch (from a 283), 430hp, beautifully detailed small-block from Lee's Speed Shop. A more conventional, color image became the main November cover image. Lee Titus built the Chevy for Ronnie Hier's and Hank Bender's Top Gas Dragster, seen in a roto-section center spread that carried a shot of Stu Hilborn tuning the engine on his dyno.

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JULY 25: Posed next to his Bahama Blue, flattie-powered '29 A is John Rasmussen, better known as Rass. His high school hot rod made the cover plus two pages inside the March HRM. A longtime fireboat engineer in the L.A. harbor and good buddy of Gene Adams, Rass later ran a bad Olds in this car and fielded slingshot fuelers. This is the only photo we've seen of the unique, questionable porthole top on an otherwise bitchin' hot rod.

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JULY 29: My oh my, July certainly has been a busy month for HRM's lead photographer! We dunno why Rick and Wally were at the Chrisman Garage in the Willowbrook section of L.A., posing next to Art's nearly complete Hustler I. The NHRA Nationals poster stuck to that new Chevy truck hints that Rickman was shooting promotional photos for his editorial director's upcoming Big Go.

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AUGUST 1: Now Rick's up in Bakersfield setting up this photo of Ernie Hashim's blown Chrysler Hemi for the Lee's Auto Special. Driver Bill Crossley is seen behind the engine, which the boys are preparing to balance on blocks so Rick can climb onto the wooden chair and take a color (potential cover) photo with that huge view camera atop the tripod. He obviously liked this setup enough to snap this B&W image with another camera to record it for himself. How sad that after all this time, travel and effort, the color photo never ran, for reasons unknown. That's how the mag biz goes.

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AUGUST 4: A candid family portrait depicts Howard Johansen's talented sons, Bobby, Donny and Jerry, checking NHRA's rules while helping construct the dual-engined Howard's Cams Special (later known as "Twin Bears"). HRM's own, record-setting '57 Plymouth beach racer just happened to be parked in the background.

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AUGUST 5: Rick is back in Bakersfield, 100 miles north of PPC's L.A. headquarters. Doc Rawleigh's twice-blown Olds rail (seen previously under construction) used a 6-71 pumping into a 4-71 to compress the intake charge twice, to boost pressure.

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AUGUST 8: One celebration of the 10th anniversaries of both HRM and PPC was this "fishing party" for staffers and advertisers, recorded by Rickman. Since everyone looks pretty sober, this must have been just before the charter boat left Newport Harbor. How many of these old-timers can you identify (in time for our next issue)?

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AUGUST 8: Right around this time, Andy Granatelli (right) acquired the Paxton Supercharger division of McCulloch Motors, making a side deal with Studebaker, as well. An Oct. '58 story focused on the blower design introduced by Robert Paxton McCulloch in 1937. "Supercharging Can Be Practical" touted "recent engineering developments." We can't I.D. the guy on the left in this unpublished, excellent image.

80/115

AUGUST 13: After following this Hemi swap at Ed Pink's place since January, Rick finally got a finish photo of Bill Sesnon's repainted and polished "300-D Merc." This shot, minus the cool, '20s-gas-station background, led off the Mar. '59 issue. Although a couple of photos show the 392 Hemi with six carbs, the final image shows "the stock 300-D carburetion system [dual quads] used for street operation."

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AUGUST 13: Rick titled this "National Drag Publicity--Miss Hot Rod--Scotty's Road." Yes, that's the gorgeous Scotty's Muffler Service drag T, with Charles "Scotty" Scott behind it and Wally placing one of the first, corny, blown-Hemi-on-a-hat creations on Miss Hot Rod. The kid is Billy "The Kid" Scott, age 9, who would be piloting fuel dragsters and winning big trophies from race queens just seven years later.

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AUGUST 14: Speaking of youngsters, that's Tex Smith as a HOT ROD cub reporter, pretending to be assembling what appears to be the same go-kart we saw with Wally at the Santa Ana Drags, for the previously mentioned "How To Build a Kart" piece that would appear in Oct. '58.

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AUGUST 15: Greg Sharp I.D.'d this strange dyno setup as Kent Enderle's personal approach to supercharging a Chrysler Hemi, recalling it running at El Mirage and Bonneville. We're not sure what the theory was behind the right-angle drive for the 6-71, but note what looks like a prototype for the Enderle "Barn Door" injector on the blower's intake side

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AUGUST 18: In a photo obviously taken for the October issue's Paxton story, a trim Andy Granatelli points out something significant to Ray Brock. This Paxton "competition" blower is mounted onto what looks like a new FE engine in a '57-or-earlier T-bird. An alternate shot published in the article showed a VS McCulloch blowing into a Y-block in a similar T-bird, less Andy and Ray.

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SEPTEMBER 5: Today, Rickman returned from "The Big One" in Oklahoma City and turned in no fewer than 46 rolls of B&W film. The one shot we chose, taken from Rick's favorite ladder angle, shows Art Chrisman's new Hustler I blasting off with Ted Cyr in the old "For Sale" car that ultimately won Top Eliminator (after the newer Cyr & Hopper slingshot had been eliminated).

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SEPTEMBER 5: Among entries into the indoor show then held in conjunction with NHRA's Big Go was the infamous "Driverless T" that had a blown Hemi in the cockpit and Don Mitchell under the hood, looking through its Deuce grille shell (Oct. '58 HRM).

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SEPTEMBER 16: For six rolls Rick submitted today, he simply wrote "Tank Test." Any of us thumbing through the logbook would figure this was some sort of belly-tank lakester being tested, not this. Holy cow! Lord knows what the exact story behind this arresting photo might be. This could be El Mirage, but more likely it's one of several off-limits dry lakes used by the armed forces for such things. We're guessing that either the Army needed some tanks timed for top speed or Wally, who testdrove tanks during WWII, just wanted some seat time--and got it, as illustrated by another frame revealing his grinning mug behind dirt-caked goggles. Parks arranged for Ollie Riley to set up some Chrondeks and brought Rickman along to record the outing. After all that, the story never made it to print, even though Wally was still calling the shots as PPC's editorial director (as well as NHRA president).

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SEPTEMBER 26: That's Howard Johansen in his trademark dirty overalls, reading a spark plug. The Chevy on the Howard's dyno was fitted with a mocked-up 6-71 blower, chain-driven off the crank, and something Rick logged as a "Johansen Injector." We don't think this project went much farther (though it was shown in the Feb. '59 injection article), but that's why Rick always stopped by Howard's: Whether 16-cylinder Crosleys, twin-tank lakesters, dual-engine dragsters, new roller cams, aluminum connecting rods, or 12-port GMC cylinder heads, this mechanical genius always had something amazing in the works. Most of it worked pretty doggone well, too.

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OCTOBER 6: The car's not pretty enough to be on a cover, but this is just a perfect magazine photo. Once again, Rick's up on a ladder for the high angle, the car is positioned just right to fit on a vertical page, the lighting is excellent, and he has people interacting to add dynamism.The subject is Lee Knox's CRA Sprint Car, powered by a Polyshpere Plymouth, which Roy Prosser drove to the '58 CRA Championship. This image, showing Research Editor Bob Pendergast taking notes on the rear tire, led off a center spread feature in Mar. '59.

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OCTOBER 14: As always with Mickey Thompson, there's a story here, and this one went untold in all of the magazines we researched. We knew that M/T's Cad-powered Kurtis was at Riverside for the USAC Grand Prix at Riverside Raceway, that Jerry Unser is at the wheel in the action shot, and that the guy in the goofy hat is The Mick himself. As for why he's in the wheelchair, we struck out until Judy Thompson recalled how her late hubby had crashed into Ak Miller (!) during practice, shattering his kneecap. We'd also like to know the purpose of that large, round canister, with hoses hooked to it, in front of the engine (a fuel radiator?).
(see photos below)

OCTOBER 21: Rick, the guy on the right in the tilted hat next to the "HOT ROD Magazine" Peugeot (!), doesn't look too happy about participating in the Mobil Mileage Rally (probably under Wally's orders, in consideration of Motor Trend advertisers). At least he and his unidentified co-driver didn't have to drive one of the tiny Renault Dauphines or other weird, underpowered imports lined up behind L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. However, mucho-macho Rick surely suffered severe flogging from his peers when "No Time for Balloon Foots" appeared in print (Jan. '59).
(see photos below)

OCTOBER 23: Bill Burke built a 'glass-bodied Bonneville car much like this, seen on the Jan. '60 cover, but his was Harley-powered. This one was identified by Rick as "Bill Campbell JAP Sports Car." The J.A.P. was a highly regarded, OHV, British motorcycle racing engine. The one-piece body, like the rest of the car, appears handmade. Unfortunately, more we cannot tell. (Yes, we've seen more sports cars during 1958 than you--and we--might like, but this series is all about whatever Rickman was photographing on any given day of the year, whether by choice or by assignment.)

96/115

OCTOBER 28: That's Ed Pink again, wielding a timing light, hooked up to the Sun tester, to tune this brand-new, dual-quad '58 Corvette (or at least pretending for Rick's camera). This frame was found on a roll marked as something completely unrelated. We can only guess that it was taken as a potential lead shot for any one of several "Tune-Up" or "Ignition Basics" stories or specialty books that were PPC staples.

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OCTOBER 31: Devin, a longtime advertiser in HRM, manufactured one of the better kit cars of the many available. Still, when we saw a photo with 25 (count 'em) bodies stacked in Devin's big warehouse, we all went, "Whoa!" We've never seen anything like this before. The second shot of a bare fiberglass body next to the simple tube frame with early Ford axles and suspension is a typical product shot. The Devin-bodied Knoop-Huffaker Special made the October cover and center spread with a similar shell, but mounted on a much more sophisticated chassis.
(see photos below)

NOVEMBER 3: At least this one's not a VW bus! Young LeRoi "Tex" Smith waves a cowboy hat from the brand-new "Unit-3" NHRA Western Division staff vehicle, a six-cylinder Chevy Del Rey sedan delivery. The thing we couldn't figure out is why we kept seeing photos of ex-staffer Tex, who's no longer listed on HRM's masthead--until we saw his smiling face in the NHRA "Bulletin Board" page in the back of the Dec. '58 issue, described thusly: "Then there's LeRoi ‘Tex' Smith, recently Associate Editor of Hot Rod Magazine, who's the new National Field Director for NHRA."

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NOVEMBER 4: Steve Pick was an inventive young machinist who built this very creative DeSoto Hemi-powered dragster with innovations such as hydraulic steering and a 9:1, direct geardrive for the McCulloch blower. We dig the photo location in his mostly dirt driveway. The photos were used in HRM's Feb. '59 article on fuel injection, showing how Pick made his own from a blocked-off, six-carb Crower U-Fab manifold, fitted with a central throttle-body and individual port nozzles. It worked well until the blower overrevved and exploded, ending the experiment.

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NOVEMBER 6: Northrop Aeronautical Institute was a large, well-established college campus (later known as N.I.T.) in the L.A. suburb of Inglewood--and a regular HOT ROD advertiser, which makes us suspect that Wally told Rick, "Go over there, see what's going on, take some pictures, maybe we'll use them." As far as we know, this nice, well-lit photo never did run, but the fall-winter off-season was a fine time to make these local visits.

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NOVEMBER 12: Likewise, racing's annual off-season was a good time to grab a new photo of the current NHRA staff in its new office. That's Tex pointing to Oklahoma on the wall map, while the redhead over whose shoulder Wally is leaning to indicate something on the desk map is his secretary, Barbara Livingston--later to become the second Mrs. Parks.

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NOVEMBER 13: At first look, this didn't seem to jibe. A big October HRM article entitled "Mercs in Hot Pursuit" showed what appeared to be the identical photo of a new Mercury two-door, painted in black-and-white CHP livery, smoking all four tires in a panic stop, just like this. However, that issue came out before this photo was taken, and you know about print magazines' three-month lead times. Then we noticed that this is a '59 model, whereas the other was a '58 Merc. Rick's log entry simply states, "Brake Test."

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NOVEMBER 13: Ford introduced its revolutionary car/pickup Ranchero for the '57 model year. Chevy countered with the El Camino in '59. So, a comparo in HRM was inevitable. Brock wrote it; Rick shot it. Which one won? With a rare-option Tri-power 348 and floor-shift four-speed, the 'Camino should've stomped on the 4-barrel, 352, three-speed Ranchero, but Chevy screwed up with a 3.23:1 rear gear in the unit provided for testing. The verdict probably would've been the same, anyway: These new car/trucks are both great, and everyone should have the one of his choice (literally; that's how the story ended).

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DECEMBER 2: Rick was obviously sent out on the road with Tex in the new NHRA sedan delivery, resulting in 25 rolls of film labeled "NHRA South West Safari." This stop was in Amarillo, Texas, where a very young Dale Ham (left) stood next to Tex, in NHRA jackets. Former LAPD motor officer Sharp took one look at the natural adversaries posing for this photo and quipped, in his best Eric Rickman impression: "OK, kids, look happy with the cop; Officer, look happy with the kids!"

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DECEMBER 2: At a stop at some track along the Safari route, probably in Texas, Rick caught this amazing photograph. Of course, it wouldn't be used in the mag, but consider: The light is low, he's strolling through the pits, suddenly a '55 Ford backfires and bursts into flame. As the poor guy grabs a blanket from somewhere, Rick sets and focuses his big camera (remember, automatic, "Chimp-Mode" settings didn't yet exist) and gets the hot shot.

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DECEMBER 2: Although the sun wasn't right to get a good shot of this action, Rick caught these hefty crewmen just as they were tipping their twin-McCulloch-supercharged, Olds-powered dragster over on its side to pull the pan and repair the bottom end. The guy on the left seems to be positioning a Jerry can under the right cylinder head as a landing gear. It must have worked, because there's no disaster photo next on the roll (but there is a shot of a yet another digger tipped onto its side from the same event).

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DECEMBER 2: First, remember the date refers to the day Rick turned the film in, after returning from the "Southwest Safari." We don't know how long he was gone, or where, exactly, he found such a photogenic location to shoot Del Torrance's outstanding Model A drag roadster from Tulsa. HRM's Mar. '59 car feature identified Jim McGinnis as its owner and sponsor Del Torrance as the painter.

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DECEMBER 2: Greg Sharp knew that the only slicks available at this time were recaps from Bruce, Inglewood and Moxley. That's Bill Moxley showing off the widest recap slick we've ever seen. Business must've been good, because the company's "shop car," seen behind Bill with the trunk up and other slicks on the ground, is a new Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, by far the most expensive car made in '58 and extremely rare today.

110/115

DECEMBER 2: Earlier, we saw Howard Johansen's young sons assembling his twin-Chevy dragster. Here it is in the pits in Texas or Arizona, with four 97s atop each 4-71 blower, and some strange airplane mag wheels on the back. That's Howard in surprisingly clean white overalls. You can see Bill Moxley's big Brougham in the background. Two seasons later, Howard's twin won the inaugural Winternationals and NHRA's first national championship. Its barrier-busting 8.99, on pump gas, with Jack Chrisman driving was the first 8-second run at an NHRA national event.

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DECEMBER 19: That's Ak Miller on the right, and we think Jack Lufkin on the left, undoubtedly at Ak's shop in Whittier. Why they bothered dropping a dual-quad Olds into the brand-new '59 El Camino (complete with Appleton spotlights) mystifies us, since--as seen in the previous road test--anyone could order the 'Camino with a Tri-power 348 and four-speed from the dealer. No story appeared in the magazine to explain it.

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DECEMBER 29: Do you think Rick took Christmas Day off? We wonder. The last roll on his log sheet for 1958 was entered as "Hollywood Car Show--NHRA Booth." That's the beautiful Scotty's Muffler T roadster on display inside a building that Sharp identifies as Hollywood Legion Stadium, the L.A. home of Roller Derby, pro wrestling, and other '50s favorites.

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DECEMBER 30: That's the date this final roll was turned in, but absent any description, so we can't say where Rickman and his boss, Petersen photo director Bob D'Olivo, pitched camp on this night. They're obviously in a no-frills motel somewhere on the road. Given that D'Olivo is putting his gear away in one photo, still wearing his HRM hat and shirt, and looking bushed in the other, we'd say they spent a long day covering some event. The lingering question is: Why did Rick snap these photos? These guys weren't particularly fond of each other, so perhaps Rick had a couple of frames left on his last roll. More likely, he just couldn't stop snapping pictures. It was in his blood.